Island



(No Model.)

E. S. JONES.

SLIDING TOPMAST RIGGING FOR BOA TS. No. 367,715. Patented Aug. 2, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD s. JONES, or PRQVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

SLIDING TOP-MAST RIGGING F OR BOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,715, dated August 2, 1887. Application filed October 25, 1886. Serial No. 217,113. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD S. JONES, of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Sliding Top-Mast Rigging for Boats; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure 1 shows side elevation of mast and rigging. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of same.

My invention relates to vessels employing a sliding top-mast, sometimes called and known as a sliding Gunter rig.

The object of my invention is to permit the sail to be completely lowered and furled, and

to avoid the necessity of brailing up the sail or boom to the mast, as now required, which is oftentimes inconvenient and sometimes-especially in rough weather--impossible of ac complishment. In the rigs of this description now in use the sail is fixed to the top-mast and is incapable of sliding thereon, so that when lowered to its full extent by dropping the top mast it will still remain spread to a height equal to the length of the top-mast. In order to furl the sail it is then necessary to throw up the outer end of the boom or sail and brail it to the mast, thus securing the whole.

In the drawings, A is the niainmast, to which is attached, by means of sliding rings 13 B, a top-mast, C. 'The top-mast C is raised and lowered by means of a rope, D, passing over a pulley in the top of the mainmast. The top-mast has a perpendicular rod, E, attached to the side thereof, to which the sail is fastened and upon which it slides. The sail F is held up by a rope, G, passing through a pulley attached to the upper end of the top-mast G.

\Vhen it is desired to lower and furl the sail, the rope D is released, when the top mast will descend until its lower end rests upon the boom H, the sail at the same time sliding down the mainmast A. As the top-mast 0 moves (lownward the rope G will be slackened,which 1 will permit the sail to slide down the top-mast, so that when the lower end of the top-mast reaches the boom the sail is entirely down and ready for furling upon the boom in the usual way. When it is desired to raise the sail again, it is accomplished by merely raising the topmast by means of the rope D, the rope G at all times remaining fast.

Vhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the mainmast A and its sliding top-mast C, of a sail, F, rigged to slide upon both top-mast and mainmast, in the manner and for the purposes substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the sail F and sliding top'mast (J, of halyards D and G, the latter passing through a pulley attached to the upper end of the top-mast, and having one end thereof attached to the sail and the other made fast to the deck, the whole arranged and operating together so as to permit the lowering and raising of the sail by letting go thehalyard D and without letting go the said halyard G, as specified.

EDWARD S. JONES.

\Vitnesses:

WALTER B. ViNoEN'r, ALFRED I. HILL. 

